About two months ago, in my attempt to like Natalia's page, I had actually friended her. I quickly sent a follow up email apologizing for my mishap. She promptly returned my message with a note welcoming me to both her "Fan" and "Friend" page. A week later, we met at one of her shows in Brooklyn and have been in touch since.

The other night, before Natalia headed off onto her northeast tour, she and I bonded over a glass of wine and dinner. After confessing my love for social media, I asked her if she would be willing to let me interview her about her strategies and how she uses each platform to connect with her fans. She kindly agreed!

Before reading on, check out one of my favorite songs.

Interview with Folk Singer and Painter, Natalia Zukerman

1. What social media platforms do you currently leverage to connect with your fans?

I'm pretty much addicted to facebook. I have a fan page and a personal page and unfortunately I kinda set them up backwards so I have more friends than fans or rather, people who "like" me. But I enjoy the interface- it's easy to navigate and update and a great way to stay connected. I also have an email list that I send a monthly newsletter to. I rarely check my myspace anymore at all.

2. Looking through your platforms myself, it appears the most active one is your own personal Facebook Friend Page. Do you currently have a strategy for your page? For instance, do you log in a certain amount of times per day or week? Do you try to update content regularly to keep your fans engaged with you?

I try to limit my check-ins actually! I definitely post shows and am more active on there when I'm on tour. I have found it to be the most effective way to promote shows, more so than my regular email list.

3. I know the popularity of MySpace has dwindled but they are in the process of a complete redesign set for this fall. As part of their redesign, they are hoping to mimic the success that Facebook has experienced through their social gaming applications. If it is that MySpace is able to bring millions of users back to their platform, would you be open to moving your focus back to MySpace or would you maintain your time on Facebook?

Well good luck to them! I don't know. It all seems to be kinda the same, as in the ends justify the means. I can get sucked into that whole world and before I know it, hours have gone by and I'm promoting my shows rather than playing music. I'll have to check back in to myspace I guess and see what's happening. It feels like visiting a ghost town these days though, tumbleweeds and all!

4. I notice that you don't use YouTube as a platform to show clips from your performances, which are pretty awesome by the way. Is this omission deliberate, or are you open to enhancing your YouTube strategy by opening a 'Natalia Zukerman' channel? I'd subscribe!

Well I do have a channel. It's called Zukertube. I got a flip camera this year and have taken some fun stuff on tour. I definitely plan on using it more and am going to start posting some guitar "lessons" online too.

5. I'm pulling out an old one with the next one. You have a blog. . . or you did at one point. Not sure if many of your fans know that since it's hidden in your MySpace, but I found it. Fellow blogger to fellow blogger, any chance you could be persuaded to bring it back?

Ha! You're thorough! I loved having that blog and yes, I'm redesigning my website. I have a new record coming out in February 2011 and I'll have the site up to coincide with the release. There will be a blog on there again and all kinds of new fancy bells and whistles. I think you'll like it. At least I hope so!

Chances are very likely I will like Natalia's blog, especially since it is one of my favorite tools to engage and connect with people. And wow, guitar lessons! I should subscribe to that channel. I definitely need some help in that arena. Currently I'm getting my teachings from this guy.

There you have it folks, Natalia is the bee's knees when it comes to using social media strategically. Through the smart use of social media, Natalia has successfully been able to draw in the strong support of avid fans across the country and keep them engaged. I look forward to seeing how Natalia will use social media through her upcoming CD release. Perhaps I'll be lucky enough to score a follow-up interview!

Before you go, check out this video. Natalia throws it down with Trina Hamlin on harmonica - good stuff!

You can find Natalia on tour this fall. Click here to discover upcoming tour dates and venues.

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I'm so glad it is so easy to follow artists now on facebook and other social media platforms. for someone like me who is NOT good at following things that require effort, this is a great way for me to know about what is going on in the world of my favorite artists. And I like following them on Bilerico :)

Thanks RAH for taking the time to comment on this post and for following what's happening on Bilerico.

Social media has truly revolutionized how artists and musicians communicate with their fans. I hope this post, in a fun way, shed some light on what occurs behind-the-scenes for people who rely on social media as part of their marketing and branding efforts.

Haha! I gladly closed my MySpace account a few months ago. After I joined Facebook, I found MySpace to be completely archaic and a a little cumbersome to access the information I wanted. I look forward to seeing MySpace's redesign. I know many artists who are now spending money to hire professionals to manipulate the HTML in order to create a custom site.